Need Wifi Extender (1 Viewer)

[David Norman]

@David Norman Thanks for the advice on the switch. Both switches get 5 star reviews on amazon, but the TP-LInk is half the price.

I think it’s mentioned on this thread the router must be disabled by putting it in bridge mode. When I looked at some YouTube videos, the instructions were unplug the router from power, plug the Eero into the router, plug in the Eero, and plug in the modem. No mention of disabling the modem. Maybe that install process accomplishes that?

If you are going to use your old router as a switch, you must change it to Bridge Mode which disables it's router/wifi function.

The install of the EERO shouldn't change anything on your current router. It's probably easier to not use router though most routers if you go into the ADMIN functions should have a section that tells the device whether to function as a Router/Bridge/Access Point. A straight switch is simple plug and play.

The TpLink Switch is cheaper, but the Netgear often goes on sale and I've just had better luck with Netgear Switches than TPlink, Dlink or Linksys. The ProSafe switches are very nice

Probably a typo, but you don't want to disable the modem

 

[Johnny Angell]

If you are going to use your old router as a switch, you must change it to Bridge Mode which disables it's router/wifi function.

I have to disable the wifi don’t I?

 

[David Norman]

I have to disable the wifi don’t I?

I thought when you switched to Bridge it should do that as a rule, but apparently checking it doesn't do that automatically so you still have to do that manually it appears

Actually I may be getting the vocabulary mixed up myself b/w Bridge and Switch so I probably need to be quiet and the network people clean up my mess although some things I'm reading say enabling bridge mode disables the wifi and others say it doesn't -- so it may be different routers function differently

 

[John Dirk]

I thought when you switched to Bridge it should do that as a rule, but apparently checking it doesn't do that automatically so you still have to do that manually it appears

Actually I may be getting the vocabulary mixed up myself b/w Bridge and Switch so I probably need to be quiet and the network people clean up my mess although some things I'm reading say enabling bridge mode disables the wifi and others say it doesn't -- so it may be different routers function differently

Modern consumer-level Gateways can generally operate in one of 3 modes.

Router - All functions of the gateway including DHCP [automatic IP address provisioning], NAT [Name Address Translation] and a host of related security and management functions are enabled. NAT is what allows you to have a virtually unlimited number of private IP addresses on your network, while having only a single IP address assigned by your Internet Service Provider [ISP]. If the gateway supports WiFi then it is generally also available in this mode but can be disabled.

Repeater - In this mode the gateway will receive WiFi transmissions from a broadcasting source such as a WiFi router, boost them through internal amplification, and then rebroadcast to nearby clients. This mode can be useful where there are clients too far away from the main router to receive a strong enough direct signal. Due to the nature of WiFi however, this mode will cause a significant decrease in overall throughput capability for connected clients, although in practice there is still sufficient throughput to make it viable. In this mode all router protocols such as those described above are automatically disabled.

AP - This mode is similar to Repeater mode and is preferred if conditions allow. The condition needed is a wired path back to the main router. In AP mode the gateway is connected to a wired jack somewhere in the space and usually as close as possible to it's intended WiFi clients. The clients will communicate with the AP wirelessly but the AP will communicate with the main gateway over a reliable and fast wired connection. As in Repeater mode, all routing functionality is disabled.

To my knowledge, most consumer level gateways do not have an explicit "Bridge" mode but if they did, the setting would simply disable the NAT feature described above but not necessarily the wireless radios.

 

[David Norman]

Ramblings deleted

 

[John Dirk]

Ramblings deleted

LOL - I hadn't refreshed my page and saw the "ramblings" despite them having been deleted. It's actually a valid question as the terms can get confusing. "Bridge" mode simply means disabling the NAT functionality of a router so that there won't be two separate devices on the same network attempting to assign internal IP addresses. In this mode, wired devices can be connected to the LAN ports and then communicate wirelessly back to the main router.

By contrast, in AP mode there would be a wired connection back to the router and the AP would extend wireless coverage to the area where it is located.

 

[Dave Upton]

I have to disable the wifi don’t I?

Generally speaking, any device that isn't an essential part of your wifi network should have wifi disabled. These un-needed devices can cause serious interference and problems otherwise.

It's definitely worth looking into your current router's settings as @John Dirk suggested. It sounds like it's one of two things:

1) The router may have turned down the power setting on the radio, so the signal isn't as strong as it once was. There are many routers that do this automatically, and it can hurt more than it helps.
2) There may be a source of interference in your home that wasn't there before mucking up the wireless signal. This could include cordless phones, microwave phones, bluetooth speakers or devices or Z-wave/zigbee devices.

 

[Johnny Angell]

On my router:
Wireless bridging is disabled.
Output power for both channels is 100%
Both channels are disabled

 

[David Norman]

LOL - I hadn't refreshed my page and saw the "ramblings" despite them having been deleted. It's actually a valid question as the terms can get confusing. "Bridge" mode simply means disabling the NAT functionality of a router so that there won't be two separate devices on the same network attempting to assign internal IP addresses. In this mode, wired devices can be connected to the LAN ports and then communicate wirelessly back to the main router.

By contrast, in AP mode there would be a wired connection back to the router and the AP would extend wireless coverage to the area where it is located.

It felt a bit like I was hijacking the thread and pushing Johnny's issues is the wrong direction and/or making things more complicated than they really need to get.

Boiled down -- what steps are necessary to turn a router into a switch other than turning off the WiFi? The more I looked into the how to, it seemed more involved than I'd remembered from reading years ago. Switches are cheap enough that it might be easiest not to bother with something that adds more layers and steps

 

[Dave Upton]

It felt a bit like I was hijacking the thread and pushing Johnny's issues is the wrong direction and/or making things more complicated than they really need to get.

Boiled down -- what steps are necessary to turn a router into a switch other than turning off the WiFi? The more I looked into the how to, it seemed more involved than I'd remembered from reading years ago. Switches are cheap enough that it might be easiest not to bother with something that adds more layers and steps

The only other step is disabling NAT (routing), and often has different terminology based on the manufacturer. Most ISP modems (Cable like Johnny's) do call this Bridge mode. If @Johnny Angell buys Eero for example, he'll follow these directions, plug the Eero hub into Port 1 on his Motorola, and then plug a switch into ports 2-4 if he needs more LAN ports for his hard-wired gear.

 

[John Dirk]

Switches are cheap enough that it might be easiest not to bother with something that adds more layers and steps

That's exactly how I've come to look at it over the years. Just because a device "can" be used in a certain way doesn't mean it's ideal.

 

[Johnny Angell]

That's exactly how I've come to look at it over the years. Just because a device "can" be used in a certain way doesn't mean it's ideal.

Right now I’ve got all 4 ports of the router used. If I hook up the Eero via Ethernet to the router and still use the other 3 ports for wired devices and the leftover Ethernet port on the Eero for the 4th wired device? This would eliminate a need for a switch.

And to add a wrinkle, I would like to hook up another wired device. So I need another Ethernet port and means I need a switch?

I have decided the Eero is the way to go, if I upgrade. However I’m going to wait for Black Friday or prime day, or some sale.

If my iphone is connected to the 24mhz channel it will automatically switch to the high speed channel when it finds it (coming out of the master). It won’t do the opposite when it loses the high speed channel, no automatic switch to the slow channel. Why is that?

 

[John Dirk]

Right now I’ve got all 4 ports of the router used. If I hook up the Eero via Ethernet to the router and still use the other 3 ports for wired devices and the leftover Ethernet port on the Eero for the 4th wired device? This would eliminate a need for a switch.

And to add a wrinkle, I would like to hook up another wired device. So I need another Ethernet port and means I need a switch?

At this point I think you've convinced both me and yourself that you need a switch. Personally I would just grab an 8 port model [slightly more expensive] and use it for all of the wired devices, unless of course they are in different areas of your space, and get rid of the current router once the Eero is in place. If you stay with your current setup you'll need to be very careful that you don't have two devices attempting to handle routing duties at the same time.

If my iphone is connected to the 24mhz channel it will automatically switch to the high speed channel when it finds it (coming out of the master). It won’t do the opposite when it loses the high speed channel, no automatic switch to the slow channel. Why is that?

That's not what's happening. If it switches to another network it is because the signal quality of the current network has degraded beyond a certain threshold. The criteria is always signal strength, not frequency band.

 

[David Norman]

The only other step is disabling NAT (routing), and often has different terminology based on the manufacturer. Most ISP modems (Cable like Johnny's) do call this Bridge mode. If @Johnny Angell buys Eero for example, he'll follow these directions, plug the Eero hub into Port 1 on his Motorola, and then plug a switch into ports 2-4 if he needs more LAN ports for his hard-wired gear.

That was what I thought the procedure was, but then I started reading and the more I read the more I confused myself. Not that hard to do these days

 

[Clinton McClure]

In my situation, my ISP frowned upon allowing me to put their modem into bridged mode, so I simply disabled the wifi radio in the administrative setup so as not to have two wifi networks competing with each other and connected my eero gateway to one of the LAN ports. The modem is still using DHCP and NAT to automatically assign addresses in the 192.168.0.xx range but the eero is the only thing connected to it. I then told the eero to use DHCP and NAT to assign addresses in the 10.0.0.xx range. Since everything in my house connects to the eero network wirelessly, it works great.

 

[John Dirk]

The modem is still using DHCP and NAT to automatically assign addresses in the 192.168.0.xx range but the eero is the only thing connected to it.

Actually, if the Eero is connected to the ISP gateway via a LAN port then the ISP gateway also "sees" whatever is connected to the Eero downstream.

This setup can work but is not recommended because you do have two DHCP servers active at the same time. If a device on the 10.0.0.xxx network needs to renew its lease and cannot reach the Eero for any reason, it may be assigned an IP address on the other network by the ISP gateway. It should still work as long as you're not using any devices or services that require static IP addresses.

Bottom line, your ISP has no right to tell you how to use the gateway you pay them for.

 

[Johnny Angell]

@John Dirk thanks for those instructions concerning bridge mode. All those videos showing how to install the Eero sure misrepresent the installation.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Actually, if the Eero is connected to the ISP gateway via a LAN port then the ISP gateway also "sees" whatever is connected to the Eero downstream.

This setup can work but is not recommended because you do have two DHCP servers active at the same time. If a device on the 10.0.0.xxx network needs to renew its lease and cannot reach the Eero for any reason, it may be assigned an IP address on the other network by the ISP gateway. It should still work as long as you're not using any devices or services that require static IP addresses.

Bottom line, your ISP has no right to tell you how to use the gateway you pay them for.

Nothing in my house requires a static IP.

How could a device be assigned an IP on the other network if it can’t reach the eero? The gateway modem’s wifi radio is turned off so if a wifi only device can’t see the eero, there’s no way the gateway could see it. In that case, it’s just offline.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I’ll also add that in my situation, although it is not an recommended configuration, it works just fine with no speed degradation or conflicts. My eero network has also provided near 100% uptime for the past year, only rebooting after it quietly installs a firmware update in the background every few months around 2AM. My iPhone, MacBook Pro, and work laptop all report 450 - 500Mbps Speedtest results via wifi and if I connect my MacBook Pro or work laptop directly to the eero gateway’s other LAN port, I get 950-ish Mbps.

 

[John Dirk]

How could a device be assigned an IP on the other network if it can’t reach the eero? The gateway modem’s wifi radio is turned off so if a wifi only device can’t see the eero, there’s no way the gateway could see it. In that case, it’s just offline.

I see what you're saying. The scenario I was describing was if the Eero's DHCP server failed to respond. Either way, things are working so we're both happy.